Justina Revolution

     My name is Lisa Cole. I grew up in Asheville, North Carolina in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Everyone always looks at that place and talks about how beautiful it is. But it’s not beautiful. It’s ugly. It’s a shiny piece of candy pumped full of poison. For most of my life it was a goddamn pit that I was born in and I thought that I would never get out of there while I was alive.      I was thirty two years old. I worked as a CNA, a certified nursing assistant. My mom was a CNA before me. She used to say that she was a certified shit wiper. Because that is what it is. If you work in a place like Carolina Cove, where wealthy retirees end up spending the remainder of their lives, you end up wiping the asses of people who have had more opportunity and money than you can ever dream of as they endure the indignities of old age and impending death. My mom worked at one of the less posh nursing homes in the county and eventually just clutched her chest a...

       Springtime in North Texas brings with it its share of storms. Big thunderheads can roil across the sky promising hail, tornadoes, high winds, lightning, and a general feeling of unease. If you live here long enough you get kinda used to it and begin to actually see the beauty in the vast and awesome power of nature. This very afternoon we are supposed to have some storms that will last long into the night until around 2 AM CST. I feel that odd feeling in the pit of my stomach that comes with thinking about the storms and what they might portend for me and mine.      A tornado is terrible but those don't bother me nearly so much as the massive hail that may come with a storm destroying vehicles and smashing property to pieces. Usually thank goodness the hail is small. Pea sized. Sometimes it can be the size of golf balls or softballs or even larger. Constant reminders that everyone in this world is subject to the whims of nature and you cann...